Israeli officials want to renew Gaza war

A number of high-ranking Israeli defense officials cited by The Jerusalem Post are calling for a renewal of the war on Gaza's terrorist infrastructure.

The officials say that when the six-month informal ceasefire with Hamas officially expires on December 19, Israeli forces should be unleashed against the terrorists.

According these officials, the renewed hostilities will put pressure on Hamas to get serious about swapping abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for a realistic number of Palestinian security prisoners.

Meanwhile, Israelis who live in the vicinity of Gaza are hollering in vain for the rest of the country to recognize that the ceasefire has already completely collapsed, and that the Palestinian side has already fully renewed its terrorist onslaught.

Hundreds of rockets and mortar shells have been fired from Gaza at communities in southern Israel over the past few weeks, wounding dozens of Israelis and causing widespread damage.

On Thursday, three rockets slammed into battered southern Israel communities, one scoring a direct hit on a home. Fortunately, no one was in the house at the time of the attack.

Mayor-elect David Buskila of the hard-hit town of Sderot responded to the attacks by lashing out at Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who earlier in the week boasted that by means of the truce with Hamas the government had managed to reduce to "only" 10 the number of monthly rocket attacks.

Buskila noted that if even "only" two rockets were hitting Tel Aviv on the monthly basis, Barak and everyone else in the government would take a far different position.

Buskila said that the current government's need to prop up its own perceived achievements prior to the upcoming general election has spelled abandonment of the besieged residents of the Gaza Belt region.

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